Scary Without A Mask 😷
If you’ve ever been up to New York City on Halloween like Daniel plus Lauren has for 8 years from 2011 to 2018 so far, then you know it’s not like any other city on October 31, it’s become a holiday a tad more important than Thanksgiving and Christmas for you and yours truly, a city, moment, and time for one to be someone else, other than you, it’s the greatest feeling in the world, arriving in NYC, checking in our accommodations, getting our makeup done, catching the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, followed by a rooftop party in Manhattan to top it all off into the wee hours.
This year in 2020, during a pandemic identified as COVID19, causing shutdowns and extreme restrictions on everyday life we know and love, beginning back in March and now continuing despite slow reopening, now it’s caused you and me to pivot our plans for Halloween, whether it’s at home, or still in New York City in the most socially distant and safest way possible to stop the spread of COVID19.
If you are hopefully planning to still come up to New York City for Halloween, and staying safe first and foremost, Daniel plus Lauren has gathered very useful resources DpL has been a patron at, coming from places like Abracadabra NYC, The NYC Halloween Parade, and Joonbug.
Abracadabra NYC for one is the number one place where you can get your makeup and costumes like no other place else, you can still rent out props and costumes for NYC’s biggest night, as well as get guidance with prop and costume projects.
Located on 19 West 21st Street in Midtown Manhattan, Abracadabra NYC will adhere to updated CDC guidelines at all times, operating at 50 percent capacity, equipped with disinfecting products, gloves, and masks, and ask their customers to practice 6 feet social distancing, and you must keep on your mask at all times.
The Village Halloween Parade in New York’s Greenwich Village has always been a predominant fixture in New York City since 1974, and Daniel plus Lauren always followed along the route immediately after getting their makeup done, but this year is different, while the actual physical parade is cancelled for pandemic reasons, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to go on in a slightly different form.
This iconic parade will take place in miniature form, but not in the way you may think, it’ll be the first annual miniature parade taking place online, and it’ll still be televised on NYC TV like with the physical parade.
Produced by New York’s Village Halloween Parade the first annual online event and hosted by MacArthur Genius and Master Puppeteer, Basil Twist’s famous puppet, Stickman, this Parade will feature the mask and puppet work of 40 artists from the history of New York’s Village Halloween Parade. Conceived during a time when other events are finding adaptations of their cancelled events due to Covid, this event is original, unique and can stand on its own as an international (indeed, intergalactic: viz. aliens accepted) event of a large, but miniature scale.
The plan is to transform the Giant Puppets of the Parade into MINIATURES for this special 2020 Parade.
These small figures will be made by Giants of the puppet world as well as mask and doll makers and costumer designers.
Apparently, gathering in bars and nightclubs despite slow reopening and limited capacity in New York City and State is not a very good idea, and party planner, Joonbug, is following suit this Halloween with no parties taking place under their purview, Joonbug hopes parties will resume for New Year’s Eve.
If at the very least you can come to New York City on Halloween for the night or an overnight stay, the best thing Daniel plus Lauren recommends is buying makeup and costumes at Abracadabra NYC, then go back to whatever hotel you’re carefully staying at, or find a gathering outside as safe and distant as possible, check out the virtual Halloween parade, be safe with your friends, and update the heck out of your social media whatever you’re doing on Halloween in New York City that night.
But remember one thing and one thing only with your Halloween plans….